Insomnia shown to raise risk of dying

Study finds chronic, long-term insomnia is linked to a three-times higher risk of dying of all causes.

By Don Finley :
June 7, 2010

The 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies is taking place at the Convention Center. A study presented there showed insomniacs were three times more likely to die of all causes than people who were well rested.

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Insomnia isn't just an annoyance, it seems. People who were chronically unable to get a good night's sleep were three times more likely to die of all causes than well-rested folks, a long-term study shows.

And while the research is still teasing out what the insomniacs died from, the findings so far suggest that the sleep-deprived and doctors shouldn't ignore the problem, researchers said.

"Insomnia is often considered as a nuisance," said Laurel Finn, a biostatistician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lead author of the study. "People don't really take it as a serious medical condition. They won't go seek treatment. They won't talk to their doctor. And doctor's offices often won't thoroughly examine what are the root causes."

The findings, presented Monday in San Antonio at the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, are from the federally funded Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study, which followed 2,242 state employees over a decade or longer.

Workers were classified as suffering from insomnia if they often or always suffered from at least one of four symptoms: trouble getting to sleep, waking repeatedly, waking too early or being unable to fall back to sleep after waking during the night. They were contacted by researchers three times over a 10-year period, and if they had insomnia at least twice during those three interviews they were considered chronic.

In all, 128 of the subjects have died. Deaths were determined from Social Security records. Death rates were adjusted to account for differences in age, sex, body weight and self-reported chronic medical conditions.

Dr. Lisa Shives, a sleep medicine specialist and spokeswoman for the conference, who wasn't involved in the research, said the study's findings are important - given that 10 percent to 15 percent of all adults suffer from chronic insomnia.

"I do think it's very significant," said Shives, medical director of the North Shore Sleep Medicine Center in Evanston, Ill. "What's worrisome is that we don't treat insomnia very well. We need to put more time and research into finding good treatments."

Other studies have found higher death rates among those who get too little sleep, as well as those who get too much. This study looked only at insomnia.

"The sweet spot (for optimal sleep) is about seven or eight hours," said Paul Peppard, scientific director of the study and assistant professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Researchers saw some differences in death risk among people who reported only one of the four symptoms. Those who regularly awoke during the night were 2.3 times more likely to die of any cause. Those with frequent difficulty getting to sleep were 2.4 times more likely to die of any cause. Those who awoke too early or were unable to fall back asleep had a risk of death three times greater.

And though the researchers are still tracking the causes of those deaths, Finn said other research has linked sleeplessness to deaths from accidents and heart disease. While it might seem obvious that the sleep-deprived might have more accidents, the connection to heart disease follows a more complicated path.

"When people have disrupted sleep, it affects their hormone levels, which then affects their metabolic system," Finn said. "Also, the constant arousals (from sleep) can affect the inflammatory system, which then can lead to cardiovascular disease."